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The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday advanced the nomination of Todd Blanche to serve as attorney general, clearing the way for a vote on the Senate floor after Blanche reached a deal with two GOP holdouts on the $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund.
Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who are both exiting Congress at the end of the year, had raised objections to the fund, pushing Blanche to put in writing the termination of what the North Carolina Republican called a “payout for punks.”
Blanche signed an order Sunday formally rescinding the fund, appeasing the two Republicans and winning the support necessary to advance from the committee in a 12-10, party-line vote.
But much of the committee’s meeting Tuesday morning to review his nomination consisted of Democrats calling out the loopholes in the deal.
While Blanche signed a memo killing the fund, President Trump’s underlying lawsuit is still alive, and the president did not sign off on the shift — something Cornyn himself had previously noted could allow Trump to sue to revive the fund.
It also leaves in place a memo that offered sweeping immunity to Trump, his adult children and their business against any investigation or review by the government into their past conduct, including their dealings with the IRS.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) called the two documents released Sunday “decorative” and said neither “has any legal effect whatsoever.”
And Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), the top Democrat on the panel, said Cornyn and Tillis failed to secure the guarantee they set out for.
“To state the obvious, Mr. Blanche’s statement on the slush fund and the IRS immunity agreement are not signed by the parties to the settlement agreement and are therefore unenforceable. The parties could still sue to enforce the agreement, and the cop beaters fund can easily be revived with a new order from the Department of Justice 15 minutes after Mr. Blanche is confirmed as attorney general. Indeed, the president himself has loudly telegraphed that’s his plan,” Durbin said.
“This is the exact issue that the two senators identified as the basis for their objection to his nomination.”
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said, “It’s hard for me to say this as a plant-based guy, but where’s the beef?”
“We got nothing, no guarantees whatsoever that this slush fund still can’t go forward. We got nothing that the president of the United States can’t cheat on his taxes and have no accountability,” Booker said.
“Dear God, folks, it’s not like we’re talking about a president who is a saint.”
Cornyn and Tillis both defended the agreement that cleared the way for their support.
In addressing the committee, Cornyn said his determination to get a signed agreement to kill the fund was not just “nitpicking,” though he seemed to acknowledge that the “anti-weaponization” fund could be revived in court.
“They’ve been consistent about their assertion on behalf of the United States of America that [the] weaponization fund is dead, and of course I expect them to live up to that in any future litigation,” Cornyn said
“We need a stabilizing force at the Department of Justice, and Mr. Blanche deserves the opportunity to provide that, as opposed to continuing to serve in an acting capacity. …The Department of Justice does not need a temporary, unconfirmed nominee as our nation’s top law enforcement officer.”
Tillis also described himself as “satisfied.”
“I believe that we have addressed the concerns that I have. The first one I called the payout pot for punks. I’ve never liked this 1776 fund. It made no sense to me, and I thought it was an insult to the police officers and the people that defended us on Jan. 6. It’s done. It’s been rescinded, and I am satisfied,” he said.
Other Democrats implied the two had been hoodwinked.
Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) questioned why Cornyn would take at face value that the fund was dead while the Justice Department has failed to affirm that in any of the numerous lawsuits still pending over the fund.
Indeed, Trump’s legal team just appealed a ruling criticizing his IRS suit as being collusive.
“It’s bad enough that for weeks he resisted the simple requests of my Republican colleagues to just say in writing that this fund and order are revoked, finished, dead, but that he is still refusing to make it a binding guarantee in a sworn statement submitted before a judge. Is this because once confirmed, he will simply revoke this new order as he did once before it?” Coons questioned.
“Nothing would stop him from doing just that.”
It’s unclear how Blanche’s nomination may fare in the full Senate, where several key Republicans including Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) have not said if they will back him.
Others, including Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who is exiting Congress at the end of the year; Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio), who is locked in a tight midterm race; and Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) have also declined to say how they plan to vote.
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